AT&T Hires New CTO, Also Migrating UVerse Customers Over To DTV?

[dishcomm]

Only problem is the trucks are not big enough to handle all the U Verse Install equipment, D* installation equipment and repair as well.

ATT went to the Transit for a lot of U Verse employees, they can fit U verse stuff in it barely, I'm not sure how they are gonna have both products on the same truck and have everything.

I think they would be smart to actually have a D* crew as well as a U V crew.
It may not be as hard to do if the TV side of U V is not on the trucks, if they are having the D* install with a U V Internet, that would make sense.

I've seen the way AT&T works. Typically, very slowly.
When my parents dumped Brighthouse for their broadband, they called AT&T to set up internet to their home. The wait was over three weeks.
I would be shocked if for example, a customer ordered a D* and Uverse( internet/phone) bundle and the entire job done on the same day.
Here's why. A Uverse install can take as much as and entire day to complete depending on several factors. Type of home construction and floor plan, desired location of the hub. Location of the modem and router.
Perhaps AT&T will wise up and send out two techs to knock out these jobs so customers can enjoy their bundle on the same day.
This of course goes against the "production' business model of the overall satellite business.
The pay structure has to be changed from flat rate/piece work to hourly compensation....Of course logistics must change as well. Vehicles must be specially equipped to haul all materials and equipment the tech may need for that day PLUS....Anything that may go wrong. Or for extras the customer may want.
If it were up to me, two techs would be on every truck. And the trucks while not necessarily larger than one of those Sprinter vans, must however be equipped with efficient and easy to access on board storage.
The number one cost of this type of operation is labor. If the vehicle used by the tech is poorly designed as to storage, the tech has to spend time searching through his vehicle. That is a HUGE waste of time.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

What's going to happen when the Uverse customers find out about rain fade and that they don't get any out of market locals or subchannels that they once had with their Att fiber optic system.

This ought to be interesting to follow.

what about the 2 year lock in for changing / upgrading boxes or added a box?

 

[Jimbo]

I've seen the way AT&T works. Typically, very slowly.
When my parents dumped Brighthouse for their broadband, they called AT&T to set up internet to their home. The wait was over three weeks.
I would be shocked if for example, a customer ordered a D* and Uverse( internet/phone) bundle and the entire job done on the same day.
Here's why. A Uverse install can take as much as and entire day to complete depending on several factors. Type of home construction and floor plan, desired location of the hub. Location of the modem and router.
Perhaps AT&T will wise up and send out two techs to knock out these jobs so customers can enjoy their bundle on the same day.
This of course goes against the "production' business model of the overall satellite business.
The pay structure has to be changed from flat rate/piece work to hourly compensation....Of course logistics must change as well. Vehicles must be specially equipped to haul all materials and equipment the tech may need for that day PLUS....Anything that may go wrong. Or for extras the customer may want.
If it were up to me, two techs would be on every truck. And the trucks while not necessarily larger than one of those Sprinter vans, must however be equipped with efficient and easy to access on board storage.
The number one cost of this type of operation is labor. If the vehicle used by the tech is poorly designed as to storage, the tech has to spend time searching through his vehicle. That is a HUGE waste of time.

As for the 2 tech thing, I agree and have felt that way for a long time.

I think the equipment thing will work out eventually when they are no longer doing UV TV installs.
I still think they should have 2 seperate crews though but that would potentially cause 2 truck rolls.

 

[CSM]

Found another article on this.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/att-selects-ericsson-to-enhance-its-tv-platform-2015-09-10

Ericsson today announced it has been selected to work with AT&T on the evolution of AT&T's TV experience platform. AT&T will be combining industry-leading capabilities of AT&T's U-verse and DIRECTV platforms to deliver its entertainment experience across AT&T's satellite and wireline networks.

This evolution will utilize leading technologies from AT&T's U-verse platform and AT&T's DIRECTV satellite platform to deliver a premium TV experience, serving customers across both satellite and wireline access networks.

As for the 2 tech thing, I agree and have felt that way for a long time.

I think the equipment thing will work out eventually when they are no longer doing UV TV installs.
I still think they should have 2 seperate crews though but that would potentially cause 2 truck rolls.

I think having two techs on one truck would be good then that way no one would loose their job. The DTV one would install the dish and the UVerse one would install Internet, phone and maybe UVerseTV if a customer wanted it. However what happens if one of the techs finishes early?

 

[Claude Greiner]

As long as they don't consider u verse customers existing directv customers we should be ok

 

[dishcomm]

Found another article on this.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/att-selects-ericsson-to-enhance-its-tv-platform-2015-09-10

Ericsson today announced it has been selected to work with AT&T on the evolution of AT&T's TV experience platform. AT&T will be combining industry-leading capabilities of AT&T's U-verse and DIRECTV platforms to deliver its entertainment experience across AT&T's satellite and wireline networks.

This evolution will utilize leading technologies from AT&T's U-verse platform and AT&T's DIRECTV satellite platform to deliver a premium TV experience, serving customers across both satellite and wireline access networks.


I think having two techs on one truck would be good then that way no one would loose their job. The DTV one would install the dish and the UVerse one would install Internet, phone and maybe UVerseTV if a customer wanted it. However what happens if one of the techs finishes early?

UGH.....Ok....I have a friend that works at AT&T. He is friendly with the manager over the Wire Techs. The Wire Techs are being cross trained to Directv. He also tells me the cross training has been a bit of a struggle.
The point is the Uverse techs will be satellite techs as well. Of course the union hates this because cross training means fewer jobs to create. Fewer potential union members
anyway, To answer your concern on one guy getting done faster. That's easy. That guy pitches in and gets the job done....Period. That is "what happens if..."
The mentality of "that's not my job" cannot exist any longer.

 

[dishcomm]

As long as they don't consider u verse customers existing directv customers we should be ok

Not sure I understand your comment.
Would it be in as far as the existence of any contract or agreement?

 

[dishcomm]

I am wondering how the situation with the current service provider techs is going to be handled.
Based on the info I have gotten, AT&T is going to eventually take all the directv stuff in house.
But...Here's a little counter to that. Last week i was contacted by a recruiter who is representing a current directv service provider. The purpose was for the recruitment of AT&T alarm techs and supervisory personnel.
So logic would tell me that thew Service providers are ok....for now..
Also. Another issue is how the union management and the rank and file will react to "outsiders" doing "their work"....

 

[Jimbo]

I am wondering how the situation with the current service provider techs is going to be handled.
Based on the info I have gotten, AT&T is going to eventually take all the directv stuff in house.
But...Here's a little counter to that. Last week i was contacted by a recruiter who is representing a current directv service provider. The purpose was for the recruitment of AT&T alarm techs and supervisory personnel.
So logic would tell me that thew Service providers are ok....for now..
Also. Another issue is how the union management and the rank and file will react to "outsiders" doing "their work"....

at&t has always (at least in the last 30 years) had contractors.

They contract out thier Line work, in the last 10 -15 years anyways, I was in Line when I started as an AT&T lineman.
They have contracted out the locating dept for quite awhile now as well and theres other depts too.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

A Uverse-Directv bundle is as relevant to me as a FIOS-Directv bundle,since NEITHER Uverse nor FIOS is available in my area. That's why AT&T is pushing Directv-wireless bundles nationwide. I still firmly believe that sometime down the road,sooner or later,AT&T will shed its DSL/POTS/Uverse assets & become strictly a Wireless company since they obviously feel that THAT is where the money is going to come from. All this talk about expanding Uverse is just fairy tales to me(or my local municipality is so corrupt,they'll never allow Uverse or quality cable companies to expand into our city. It wasn't until the 1990's that we finally got a sewer system installed,& we have over 2-3,000 people living in our city,AND outside a major military base. Edit: chances are my city will get an MRAP for the local police force way before it gets internet speeds capable of 4G videos).

Edit: I thought that this post I made was so good,I copy & pasted it to a letter to the editor of my local newspaper,because of my snide comments about my local municipality. I can't wait to see if I get a response from them.

 

[Soccernut]

A Uverse-Directv bundle is as relevant to me as a FIOS-Directv bundle,since NEITHER Uverse nor FIOS is available in my area. That's why AT&T is pushing Directv-wireless bundles nationwide. I still firmly believe that sometime down the road,sooner or later,AT&T will shed its DSL/POTS/Uverse assets & become strictly a Wireless company since they obviously feel that THAT is where the money is going to come from. All this talk about expanding Uverse is just fairy tales to me(or my local municipality is so corrupt,they'll never allow Uverse or quality cable companies to expand into our city. It wasn't until the 1990's that we finally got a sewer system installed,& we have over 2-3,000 people living in our city,AND outside a major military base. Edit: chances are my city will get an MRAP for the local police force way before it gets internet speeds capable of 4G videos).

Edit: I thought that this post I made was so good,I copy & pasted it to a letter to the editor of my local newspaper,because of my snide comments about my local municipality. I can't wait to see if I get a response from them.

So you thinking they will sell out the internet side of the business to local cable and go with wireless and satellite?

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

So you thinking they will sell out the internet side of the business to local cable and go with wireless and satellite?

I have been thinking that way for quite a while. I see AT&T & Verizon both giving up their Uverse/FIOS assets & offering "Broadband" internet wirelessly,& heavily capped,only. Also,if I ever want to see Google Fiber,I'll have to move to Atlanta,because that is as close as it will ever come to me. In a complaint to my local municipality,if I want Xfinity,I only have to move outside my city limits.

 

[Jimbo]

I think eventually they will sell or drop the U Verse TV side of things ... Att U verse Internet will be around for quite awhile as they will contin ue bundling that with the D* offerings.

They will continue to have the Wireless Cell phone side of things as thats where the money is at.

I'm not sure how people will go for the Internet over Cell towers only ... for the main computer in the home.
For the Phones and tablets yes, but it seems that data caps would have to increase considerably without a major price increase.

 

[The Fat Man]

Sorry if this was asked before, but is AT&T's business plan to do the same as Shaw in Canada, with complementing cable and satellite services?

 

[CSM]

Jimbo what about the customers who wouldn't want a dish on the roof or customers who have LOS issues? However I read that AT&T doesn't make a dime off of UVerseTV. Since DTV is the superior TV product of the two and it can do 4k movies, has better HD PQ it would make sense for AT&T to keep DTV instead of UVerseTV.

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo what about the customers who wouldn't want a dish on the roof or customers who have LOS issues? However I read that AT&T doesn't make a dime off of UVerseTV. Since DTV is the superior TV product of the two and it can do 4k movies, has better HD PQ it would make sense for AT&T to keep DTV instead of UVerseTV.

In the areas that U Verse is already available, subs will have the option of which provider to have ... they will start with D* in most cases, if thats not an option due to LOS, then U Verse can be offered.
If a sub ASKS for U Verse, thats the route that it will go.

 

[CSM]

Sorry Jimbo I forgot I asked that question earlier in this thread. Jimbo what do think they will call it? Will they use both names, with the same guide, same channels and same channel numbers? Or just use one name with the same guide, same channels and same channel numbers with one name? Wonder if they would care about the names all flowing together or not?

 

[navychop]

DeathStar becomes DeathTV?

 

[Joe The Dragon]

Sorry Jimbo I forgot I asked that question earlier in this thread. Jimbo what do think they will call it? Will they use both names, with the same guide, same channels and same channel numbers? Or just use one name with the same guide, same channels and same channel numbers with one name? Wonder if they would care about the names all flowing together or not?

U-verse needs an auto HD setting.

 

[Jimbo]

Sorry Jimbo I forgot I asked that question earlier in this thread. Jimbo what do think they will call it? Will they use both names, with the same guide, same channels and same channel numbers? Or just use one name with the same guide, same channels and same channel numbers with one name? Wonder if they would care about the names all flowing together or not?

Yes and No ...

I think iot will be a long time down the road that the two are merged on the Channel guides.
Maybe a couple of generations worth of boxes.
It will take time for all contracts to be merged for channel selections as well.